Autism funding at Caldwell College: A boost for teaching and research

David Gard/ New Jersey Local News ServiceSen. Frank Lautenberg announced federal funding for Caldwell College's recently created autism education doctoral program. Lautenberg accepts a gift from Elaine Keith, her autisitic son, Chase, 6, and Eric Keith, of Basking Ridge. New Jersey has one of the highest rates of autism in the country, and a $550,000 federal grant to Caldwell College will help ensure that more teachers learn how to recognize and teach children with the disorder.

The funding, announced during Autism Awareness Month, is a reminder that not all federal budget earmarks are for bridges to nowhere. In this case, the bridge is a program that can lead autistic children out of their isolation.

Children with autism are slow to develop language and social skills, but many with the diagnosis can be taught through an intensive, step-by-step process for learning behaviors most of us take for granted: making eye contact when talking to someone, waiting your turn in the playground or classroom, controlling inappropriate impulses.

The grant, together with an earlier appropriation of $476,000, will fund a Caldwell campus center for treating children, clinical training for doctoral students and research on effective strategies. The center is scheduled to open in the fall.

"We give children lots of practice, encouragement and feedback until they learn it," said Sharon Reeve, coordinator of the doctoral program at Caldwell, and who has helped launch the college’s teaching certificate and master's programs. "And then we make it a little harder, and we keep building from there, so they can navigate in the world." The center will offer infant screening because "the sooner the intervention, the better for the child," Reeve said.

The need is evident. One in 94 children in the state is diagnosed with autism — higher than the national average of 1 in 110 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However only 394 New Jersey teachers have been trained to work with autistic children, said Linda Meyer, executive director of Autism New Jersey. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez both have directed funding toward autism programs and research at Caldwell and elsewhere, and ensured that behavior treatments will be covered in the state-based insurance exchanges established under health care reform.

New Jersey’s reputation for autism care, including more than a dozen world-renowned programs, draws families here: Princeton Child Development Institute and its various satellite sites, the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers and the Alpine Learning Group in Bergen County also train educators, treat children on site and conduct research. The Center for Autism opened at the North Ward Center in Newark this year, with plans to offer services to children and their families and eventually open a charter school devoted to children with autism.

Caldwell College has nine affiliate sites that offer specialized teaching for autistic children; more than 400 are on waiting lists around the state for schools that typically serve about 30 students. The college’s new center will be another important beacon for parents in search of solutions to the puzzle of autism.